Year 1389
Assassination of Sultan Giasuddin Tughlaq II in Delhi.
FEBRUARY 19
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
19 February: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 19 February.
Observances & Special Days
Shivaji Jayanti (Maharashtra, India)
Year 1942
US President Roosevelt signed an order detaining Americans of Japanese descent following the Pearl Harbor attack.
Year 1985
William J. Schroeder became the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave the hospital.
Year 1986
Computerized railway reservation ticket was introduced in India.
Year 1986
Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers in eastern Sri Lanka.
Year 1989
Flying Tiger Line flight 66 crashes into a hill near Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Malaysia, killing four.[3]
Year 2002
NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
Year 2003
The Indian Union Cabinet approved a bill banning advertisements for tobacco products altogether.
Year 2003
An Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashes near Kerman, Iran, killing 275.
Year 2004
Approval of the Stockholm Treaty banning pesticides and industrial chemicals by more than 50 countries of the world.
Year 2006
A methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, kills 65 miners.
Year 2011
The debut exhibition of the Belitung shipwreck, containing the largest collection of Tang dynasty artifacts found in one location, begins in Singapore.
Year 2012
Forty-four people are killed in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico.
Born 1473
Nicolaus Copernicus, a Renaissance-era mathematician, and astronomer.
Born 1630
Shivaji Maharaj, an Indian warrior-king and founder of the Maratha Empire.
Born 1859
Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist.
Born 1900
Balwantrai Mehta, an Indian politician and the 2nd Chief Minister of Gujarat state, India.
Born 1906
M. S. Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Born 1911
Merle Oberon, Indian-American actress (d. 1979)
Born 1922
Beant Singh, an Indian politician and the former Chief Minister of Punjab.
Born 1930
Kasinathuni Viswanath, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter
Died 1885
Munshi Nawal Kishore, a book publisher from India.
Died 1915
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, an Indian liberal political leader, and a social reformer.
Died 1978
Pankaj Mullick, a popular Bengali Indian music composer, playback singer, and actor.
Died 1997
Deng Xiaoping, a Chinese politician.
Died 2015
Nirad Narayan Mohapatra, an Indian film director.